<< Back & Ready for Action! >>

Help us brighten up one of Northampton's best nooks!

The Kirkland Ave Mural Project is getting bigger & better! This June we will be expanding the new mural an additional 20 feet towards Pleasant Street, and we would love your help painting! No experience necessary. To get on the volunteer painter list, or for more information, email me at Haley@commonwealthercenter.org !

Show your support for the project by sponsoring a
Golden Brick!

For only $10 a brick, you can choose a short message of your choice (20 characters or less) to be painted across the bottom of the mural. Sponsor a brick today and help support public art in our community! Pick up a form at the C3 Office (below APE Gallery) or email me.

T H A N K Y O U !

Hello Friends! Well, the mural is still standing proud. I can't help myself but visit it daily, and I don't think I am alone. Kirkland Ave is undoubtedly getting more foot traffic and attention than it has in a while.

Check out my recent radio interview with (the infamous) Bill Dwight here.

On a nice fall day last week, Vanessa, Katherine, and I sealed the mural, but the sealer was a little too thick in some places, resulting in "partly cloudy" conditions. We plan on fixing this next week. If you want to give us a hand, drop me a line!

Here are some more photos from the unveiling & celebration...

I love the way light animates the mural at night...

Eric Hnatow playing/dancing/blowing minds (and cables)...

Eben and myself :-)

(many thanks to Vanessa Vargas for the photos and for all her lovely help during this project!)

! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Well folks, the mural is complete.

It's hard to believe that after months of preparation, it took only 3 weeks to paint. And what a gorgeous job everyone has done! I hear echoes of pride and appreciation wherever I go. I've heard gasps of surprise and excitement as people pass and see it for the first time. I am very pleased with how this project has progressed, and am totally thankful for everyone who made this dream a reality. This mural is proof that beautiful things can happen when people work together. It is a testament to the power of community and imagination. It shows us that we can be surprised, challenged, and delighted by our surroundings. It proves that art can transform not only our physical community, but our social one as well. This mural has generated friendships, happiness, discussions, stories, pride, a sense of accomplishment, and new ideas.

The unveiling & celebration last week was great, and a heartfelt thanks goes out to everyone who made it happen and made it so damn fun!
(More pictures to come from the celebration!)

Here are some reactions & responses to the mural and project generated at the celebration from activities there:
-I like the mural because it looks like it's having a pretty good time up there, and also like a mountain.
-It reminds me how AMAZING color is.
-Like Beast.
-Inspired by the birdish monster thing that rules

-I walked in Kirkland Ave once and my feet turned into two pegasuses and flew off, dropping me into a giant plate of spaghetti.
-...Anyway, I finally walked on Kirkland this rainy, chilly evening of Oct 9 2009. I might have been a different person if I had known about Kirkland before...but I won't dwell on that fact. I'm with a new friend, on a new avenue...Kirkland will be in my thoughts.
-I would love to see an outdoor cafe there and lovely landscaping along the spiral staircase that dwells there now.
-Hey, so this may sound strange but I am deeply in love with your paint. I need to take it out to dinner. With of course your bequest. My intentions I assure you are honorable, you need not worry about the sanctity if your dear one. So I will call upon you at a reasonable hour forthwith and ask you with humility for your paints hand in this unholy union, Lord of Kent.

Here are some ideas for a title for the mural (in list form):
* you have hair like starlights * Hope For Piss Alley * Quintupiance * A Prize of Peace from the Moon * Alley Cascade * "you know how I know you are gay?" * Journey to Love * Buncha Crazy Crap on a Wall * Take me to your dealer! * Monster Truck * Fingers and Toes * Party Time, Excellent * A Human Mind * Saturn Returns * Hatin-Multidimensional * Blaine Comes for a Visit * Spaghetti Sunrise * Cookieface * A Smile Costs Nothing * Yooooo Brooooo !!!! * It's Happening in the Alley! *Alley Ants * Guardianway * The Spirit of Community Wall * Hungry, Hungry Hippo * Quetzacoatl Goes To New York * The Un-nameable * A Colored Mirror * Rhizome(s): (they're horitzonaltal root structures and also a philosophical theory of non-heirarchal/non-binary systems that spread out like a community) *Lagueberde, bagedrebre, bredegredre * The Bubble * 8 year olds w/crayons drawing ninja turtles all night * you better let me read these *

We've been getting a lot of press attention. Check out the Sophian's 10/8/09 article and the Daily Hampshire Gazette's 10/9/09 article about the project! Springfield's abc40 also covered the unveiling. Keep your eyes peeled in the Advocate and the Republican this week for features about the project. :-)

Finishing touches & Celebration on Friday!

Last week a group of kids came through the alley while a bunch of us were painting. "What is it?" one of the kids asked, pointing to the mural. I asked them what they thought it could be. "An owl!" yelled one. "No, a bug!" shouted another. "It looks like the yellow submarine" one of the girls chimed in. The smallest boy boldly said, "No, I know what it is- a celebration!"


As you can see, the mural is close to finished. Only a couple more hours of work and it's complete! Cross your fingers for good weather this week...

We will be having an official unveiling & celebration this Friday, October 9th, from 6-9pm. I'm really excited to celebrate this project and all the people who made it happen! There's going to be music all evening, featuring Ed Rosser, the wheeling piano guy, from 6-8pm. Eric Hnatow, the flashy electro guy, will be playing from 8-9pm (hopefully with light up jacket in tow!). There will be cider and cookies to munch on, as well as surprise interactive spectacles (ooh la la...) to enjoy. And don't worry if you haven't gotten your Golden Brick yet, you can still purchase them Friday night for $10. You seriously should definitely probably absolutely stop by. It's going to be an awesome time. Really. This event corresponds with Northampton's monthly Arts Night Out, so make sure you check out the other great art events happening all around downtown Northampton.

Action in the Alley

Enjoy these photos from painting in action!

Next Workdays: THURSDAY, OCT 1st 10am-3pm
SATURDAY, OCT 3rd afternoon (weather permitting)

Colors & Conversations

Woo hoo! Here are some photos from painting-in-action this week. Warm thanks to all the volunteer painters who have helped so far, the folks who have bought Golden Bricks, and all of the people who have stopped to chat with us in the alley.

I love how new public art- and art in general- can open up conversation between strangers. So many people have been eager to engage with us about this piece, this project, and public space in general. This project seems to illustrate how important art can be for bringing people together.

Another one of my favorite things about this piece is it's abstract design. Many people will ask "what is it?" and instead of giving them an answer, I like to ask "what do you see?" This opens up the door to a thousand possibilities of what this mural is, what it represents, or what thoughts, feelings, or associations it provokes in others. Talking about and sharing these ideas with each other is an important way to build community and bridge imaginations.

We will be painting this Saturday, September 26th, from noon-ish on. Stop by and check it out!

It's happening!

After some considerable delay due to, among other things, negotiating with Alan Scheinman, the mural is finally coming into fruition! Last Tuesday Brian and Mike, who work for the neighboring parking garage, power washed the wall to prep it for paint. It was a magical sight early in the morning, watching these two guys wash the wall. They worked as a team inside the power washer's mist, washing and scrubbing to the tune of the humming machine, with the early morning light touching down on Kirkland Ave. It was satisfying washing the layers of dust, dirt, and decay dribble off the walls, uncovering the bright red bricks.

Yesterday we made our first mural marks on the walls with primer. This too felt like a great moment, as the mural has essentially been in the making since January. Priming went pretty quickly since we had some friends to stop by lend a hand. People walking by naturally noticed the shift from dingy red walls to bright white ones, and were curious what we were doing. Many people expressed their excitement over seeing a new mural being made, and we even recruited some volunteer painters to help us.

Obviously, the more people we can get to help us paint, the faster it will get done. Since it is already halfway through September, the days are getting shorter, the weather is getting cooler, and it is important we get the mural done in a timely fashion. Please lend us a hand! We will be working in the alley this Tuesday, Sept 22nd late afternoon-evening, next Saturday, Sept 26th in the afternoon, and every Saturday after that until it's finished. We are also planning on painting during the week whenever people are around to help, so if you'd like to be on the Volunteer Mural Painter e-mail list, let me know and I'll sign you up! haley@commonweathcenter.org. Again, no experience is necessary, we are basically doing the mural in a paint-by-numbers fashion.

Another quick reminder, Golden Bricks are available for purchase for $10 a pop. Money raised will go towards the project, and you'll get your name or words of your choosing painted on a golden brick in the mural. To donate, email me, stop by the alley, or stop by the breezeway behind the Guild to pick up a donation slip. Every little bit helps! Give in the name of art, community, a friend, child, parent, or a dream!